Description

Avatar Boogie 2 is an improved follow-up to Avatar Boogie, with twice as many dances, songs, and a mode where players can make their own avatars dance while the others follow along. You also get to trip out to adjustable lighting!

Fun Facts

Controversy! Okay, so there wasn’t quite as much controversy over this as over all the other products, but during the “pre-review” playtesting phase, several people mentioned that it might fail peer review because it was too similar to Avatar Boogie, hence unfairly snagging a spot on the “New Releases” list. I emphasized in peer review that it contained completely different music, dance animations, and new features, and it passed without incident. But isn’t it fun having competitors decide whether your product can ship or not?

Work hard, play hard: You never know when your game will be approved, but it’s important to get a trailer out ASAP right afterward. I had decided not to work on the trailer before the game was approved, in case it failed review, requiring changes that would also be made in the trailer itself. Avatar Boogie 2 was surprisingly approved on a Friday night as some friends arrived from out of town, so I worked on and released the trailer from 1am to 8am Saturday morning, which is why the quality frankly kinda sucks! Staying awake that day also sucked.

Hackin’: On Avatar Boogie 1, I couldn’t modify the animations other than to decide what frame they started and stopped on. This made animating them tricky, and finding loop points a matter of patience and luck. Fortunately, during Avatar Boogie 2 I discovered BVHacker, a tool facilitating motion capture looping and editing, which is why the animations in ‘Boogie 2 are smoother and loop much better!

Slogging: I reviewed over 2,000 animations for Avatar Boogie 2, which took a couple weeks. And people wonder why I had to check facebook every half hour! Answer: so I wouldn’t kill myself.